Israelis Report Anti-Semitism at Berlin Concert

Israelis attending a Beyonce concert in Berlin over the weekend were met with anti-Semitic chants from the audience.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 5/27/2013, 5:15 AM

Berlin

Flash 90

Israelis attending a Beyonce concert in Berlin over the weekend were met with anti-Semitic chants from the audience, the Yisrael Hayom newspaper reported on Sunday.

The incident took place when a group of eight Israelis, including two soldiers on leave, arrived at Germany's O2 stadium for the concert.

The group managed to arrive early and succeeded in seating themselves in the first row, to the dismay of local German fans, reported Yisrael Hayom.

Two Israelis in the group told the newspaper that the Germans yelled slurs at them and shoved them.

"They yelled 'dirty Jews' and 'go back to Israel,' and pushed us to the ground," one of the Israelis said. "At one point when they saw we did not want to leave [the front row] some 50 people began to chant, 'Go! Go!'"

A recent report released by Tel Aviv University noted a 30 percent rise in anti-Semitic incidents worldwide in 2012.

A report several days ago indicated that anti-Semites in Berlin have been intimidating community and local officials who are behind a project to preserve the memory of Holocaust victims who lived in the city.

The project entails the placing of the names residents on monuments on the sidewalks of streets where they lived before being deported by the Nazis to concentration camps. The project is several years old, and was undertaken with the full cooperation of the municipality and the Jewish community.

However, anti-Semites in the city have been doing their best to ruin the project. In recent weeks, many of the monuments constructed on the streets have been destroyed, as groups attempt to intimidate officials to drop the project.

The anti-Semitic activity has was raised a notch last weekend when a community member active in the project was shocked to find his front door scrawled with anti-Semitic graffiti. In addition, the man found a firecracker in his mailbox, which itself was also defaced and damaged.